


Jesse "Cash" McCree

by mar106



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, I mean, Jesse sings a song, Kinda?, Long Live Feedback Comment Project, Songfic, and reflects on what it means to him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-02-01 02:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21341290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mar106/pseuds/mar106
Summary: Jesse's a fan of Johnny Cash. What self-respecting modern cowboy wouldn't be?Unfortunately, as there are not very many modern cowboys, Johnny Cash has been all but forgotten in the 2070s. So when he, Angela, and Fareeha are sent on an undercover mission as a traveling band, he decides to bring his favorite artist to the world.
Relationships: Fareeha "Pharah" Amari/Angela "Mercy" Ziegler
Comments: 5
Kudos: 4





	Jesse "Cash" McCree

**Author's Note:**

> Find the song for this chapter [here](https://open.spotify.com/track/0LTSNmOLBt25GMjHlxp9OR?si=Y2NOFB22RIit0PCCpNjaeg).

Jesse McCree played the opening chords of a song he knew well. He doubted anybody in the audience would recognize it - it was old, very old, even older than Reinhardt. _Hell,_ Jesse thought, _this thing probably came out first on vinyl_. And even if somehow, they did recognize it, Jesse was playing it as he’d always heard it in his head - slow and sad, not the quick and cavalier original. Just before he sang the opening lines, he tilted his head up a bit so he was looking out to the audience through his hair.

“_Well I hear that train a’comin’, it’s rolling ‘round the bend. And I ain’t seen the sunshine, since I don’t know when. Well I’m stuck in Folsom Prison, and time keep sdraggin’ on. But that train it keeps a’rollin’, on down to San Anton._”

Jesse had always wondered what that train had sounded like, that you could hear it from inside a prison. All the noise that hovertrains made was in the wind of their passing, and he doubted that got through stone and metal very well. However, he could still relate to the original singer, as he knew very well what it was like to be trapped in jail, with very few things to keep time by.

“_When I was just a baby, my mama told me ‘son, always be a good boy, don’t ever play with guns.’ But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die. When I hear that whistle blowing, I hang my head and cry._”

As Jesse dropped his head following the end of the verse, he was unsurprised to find wetness dripping down his cheeks. It was why he loved this song - he felt the exact same way. He wished he had had a mother, and that she had told him something like that. Maybe he wouldn’t have done what he had done.

“_I bet there’s rich folks eating, in those fancy dining’ cars. They’re prob’ly drinkin’ coffee, and smokin’ big cigars. Well I know I had it comin’, I know I can’t be free. But those people keep a’movin’, and that’s what tortures me._”

It had seemed like that, when he had been picked up by Blackwatch. That’s what he’d thought it’d be like, and what they gave him at first certainly seemed like luxury to him. But then it’d gone from listening under windows and pretending to be other people to climbing in windows and killing people in their sleep. Jesse didn’t care that some of them had been “bad people.” He had been a “bad person,” once.

Jesse sighed. _But then I never would’ve met Angie, and Rein, and all the rest. I racked up a debt, and now I’m paying’ it back_.

“_Well if they freed me from this prison, if that railroad train was mine, I’d bet I’d move it on a little farther down the line. Far from Folsom Prison, that’s where I want to stay. And I’d let that lonesome whistle, blow my blues away._”

Jesse had gotten that chance, twice now. He’d fucked it up the first time, but he wouldn’t do it a second time. 

As the song came to a close, Jesse whipped out his harmonica and played the final set of descending notes on it. He felt his soul give a shake, like a dog coming in out of the rain, and lift slightly. He sighed as the applause came rushing in to fill the silence, soaking up the feeling that that song always left in its wake.

“Thank y’all for comin’ out here. I’m sure y'all have better things to do.” This got a couple chuckles, and Jesse grinned. “Well, if you’d put your hands together for the pair of lovely ladies who’ll be joining me on stage for the next piece, I’d be much obliged.”

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this started as a [_Working Undercover For The Man_](https://open.spotify.com/track/4efTtIRYMjilTIsoNvAKrA?si=_7areXQ1QPWKJKTXfGeMfw) songfic, but then I was listening to Johnny Cash and inspiration struck.
> 
> Special thanks to [CrazyM](archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyM) for giving me the encouragement to finish this! <3
> 
> There might be more chapters. I've been listening to more Johnny Cash songs trying to find more that fit Jesse, but none have really struck me. I'm open to suggestions. (In fact I would appreciate them.)
> 
> Fun Fact: Jesse only knows what vinyl is because Lucio is an audiophile, it's still the best way to listen to music, and Lucio took it upon himself to "educate" the Recall during one of their team-building nights. Even Reinhardt and Ana didn't know what it was before then. (Lucio was half bemused, half offended.)
> 
> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including (but not limited to):
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